I Wish
by Vania
Summary: Jarod does some thinking about what Ethan said to him and ends up discovering his biggest wish. Post Pretender 2001. R/R please!


Disclaimer: "The Pretender" and its characters are all property of NBC, TNT and MTM. I won't get any profit out of this and probably very little feedback, so don't sue, okay? The song belongs to Robin and can be found in her album. 

Author's note: Just a little something that came to me after watching the movie and reading the challenge. 

A big thank you goes to my beta-reader, Dianne!

**I Wish**

By Vania 

"She wants you back you know." 

I just can't get that statement out of my head. Ethan said it to me a few days earlier, but it's just now that I understand its true meaning. Miss Parker wants me back. She wants me back. Not to The Centre. Back to her. 

That's what I've wanted all this time too, but she always pulls away from me. Every time I tear down one wall, another surfaces. 

We've always had this link, something that tied us together. When I first met her I was afraid. Scared, because I'd never seen a girl before. I remember my heart started to beat faster from just seeing her and I noticed that the same thing was happening to her. And when she came to see me that day and kissed me, I knew I would never forget her. 

We were best friends, maybe more, but what did we know about life? When we started to grow attached to each other, to have to be with each other all the time, they sent her away from me. And when she came back to me, she was a different person. No longer the girl I used to confide in, but a woman made of steel. 

Sometime later, I ran away - Eddie, Alex and myself. I used to dream of running away with her; of taking care of her and making it all right, but that was just a dream, easily erased after I saw her with some guy at The Centre. I assumed, wrongly, that he was her boyfriend and I was enraged by it. 

I found that out shortly after becoming aware of what The Centre was doing to my work. How they used the simulations to hurt people, innocent people. Then I made the plan and we escaped, but not the three of us, only Eddie and me. I never imagined that Alex had survived after he fell in the Re-hydration Core and I don't want to thing about what they did to him after that. 

Maybe he was right about being the smartest one. After all, he'd put everything together and I, after five years, couldn't do that. I'm still looking for my mother. I just found my father and my sister and I discovered I have another brother: Ethan. Miss Parker's half brother, and mine; another Centre project. 

Alex, the chameleon, was right about one thing though. Miss Parker is important to me and as much as we both like to deny it, we need each other. I think Ethan is aware of our bond. Even if we haven't told him, he senses it because of the inner sense he has. 

Miss Parker has the inner sense also now. I've known that from a while ago, Catherine Parker talked about it in her diary. I know I shouldn't have read it, but I had to know what answers I could find there. 

I'm staring at the photo again - the one with our mothers. Were they related or just friends? And if they were related, are we? 

So many questions, so few answers. 

It's in times like these that I realize I want you back. 

And it is in times like these that I know you want me back too. 

**** 

2 months after 

"Jarod," she screams after me. I keep running, never looking back. The building we are in is going to explode in a few minutes and I still want the answers I've been looking for years for. We are at The Centre. Again. 

We go down a bit more. We're now in SL-22, I believe. I lost track at some point. 1m26s - that's what the counter on the explosive says. We're not going to make it. 

I enter a deserted room and after I'm in, Miss Parker joins me. 

"Jarod, what are you doing? We have to get out!" 

"Do you want me back?" I ask her sheepishly. 

"What? Of course I want you back! I've been running after you since you escaped! Do you think I do it for fun?" 

"I mean do YOU want me back?" 

There's a brief silence between us then she closes the distance, wraps her arms around me and starts to cry. I don't know what to do and in that moment, I can only hold her. 48 seconds. 

"Why did it take us so long to find each other again?" she asks me, looking me right in the eyes. 

"I don't know, but it's tragic." 

"What is?" 

"That we end up like this. Trapped in The Centre with only 40 seconds before a bomb explodes." 

"Then let's enjoy them." 

She starts to kiss me like I've always wanted her to. We get lost in each other and I know the bomb will be exploding any moment now. I break the kiss to tell her something. 

"I'm happy. Because you're finally back." 

"Me too, because I'm finally back to you." 

Wrapped in each other's arms, we hear the explosion. We tighten the embrace and say the words that took so long to be said. 

"I love you." 

---------------------- 

Fim!!!! 

AN2: I recommend reading this with this song. It's called 'I Wish' and it's from Robin's first CD. I got the title for this fic and the inspiration to write it from there. But if you just don't feel like listening to it, here are the lyrics. 

Do you know 
What I think about all these nights 
When I can't sleep, sleep at all 
Oh, slowly I close my eyes 
My thoughts, they fly away to you 
No matter what I do 
And I wish 
I could turn back time 
Back to the time 
When you were mine 
I wish 
I wish the day, the day you ran away 
Never happened, baby 
I wish the stars, the stars in heaven 
Would come down to me 
So I could give them to you 
And tell them then 
That would you be loving me 
Like I wish 
And it's so hard, 
When you love someone this much 
But you just don't know how, 
How to love in the right way 
If you could see 
What you've done to me 
What you've done to my heart 
What you've done to my soul 
Baby, all of my mind 
And all of my body 
Then you should have known 
Why I can't let go, and baby I 
I don't know what you want me to do 
To prove my love is real for you 
I don't know what you want me to say, baby 
There's no "ifs" or "maybes" 
All I want is you 
'Cause baby you are my only wish 
My only wish 

--Robin 

Now, review please *sweet smile*.


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